Military bombardment and shelling have continued overnight, killing at least eight people in the besieged Syrian enclave of Eastern Ghouta, despite the supposed ceasefire brokered by Russia, according to monitors.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that in the last 24 hours, the victims were killed following government bombardment across Eastern Ghouta, including in the city of Douma.
Government shelling and attacks were also reported in five other districts, including Harzma and Nashabiyah, it said.
Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus.
At least three missiles landed in the town of Irbin, the activist media monitor Ghouta Media Center (GMC) reported on Sunday, adding that it counted at least 15 attacks and shellings at the end of Saturday – the first day the truce was to take effect.
GMC reported that government troops were killed or injured, but did not specify a number, when they tried to enter a district in Eastern Ghouta controlled by the armed rebel group, Jaish al-Islam.
Eastern Ghouta has been under a government siege since 2013, and it is believed that 400,000 people still live in the area, which suffers from acute food and medicine shortages.
The ceasefire was negotiated in Vienna by the Russians.
“What is most concerning there is the situation for civilians,” said Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Syrian-Turkish border.
“Aid access into Eastern Ghouta for those people will be key, and will be something that then could really change and improve the situation for people on the ground.
“We know within this conflict, aid has always been a very difficult thing to negotiate.”
